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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Applesauce Day with my Eldest ~ And a Slow Cooker Recipe

We might not have come home with bushels of apples from apple-picking day, but the week's CSA box included a dozen gorgeous Granny Smith's and we were hankering for some applesauce. My eldest wanted to help make it, which was a delight to the ears. I was hoping for some quality time with her, and the other kids were either swimming (yes, it's still hot enough for that here) or playing with building blocks. She decided to leave the peeling to me (the little darling), so I listened to her read out loud while I peeled away.

The grapes honestly have nothing to do with this post, but they just keep showing up in the pictures. Silly grapes.

After peeling all twelve apples, we sliced away and dropped them in the crock pot,

added the juice of one lemon (for no real reason outside of wanting the tartness. The apples will be brown from all the spices so we really didn't need to protect the coloring),

and stirred in the spices that are the very scent of autumn, in my book.

We turned the slow cooker on to low, put a lid on it, and four hours later...

a quick push or two with the potato masher, and we had six cups of delightfully spiced applesauce, just like that!

Our taste testers took to it right away and didn't want to waste any time finding a table to eat it on. It was a hit!

It's so nice when there's time enough to realize that doing life with the little ones is what's important. More important than getting the job done fast. Even more important than getting the job done without a mess. Applesauce day with my nine-year-old ended up being quite the special day, and a very good reminder to slow down and remember that sharing life with the kids is the sweetest life there is. It's poetry, I tell you.

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and stir. All spices are optional. Pick and choose; use all, some, or none. Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours, or until the apples are puffy-looking with small splits.

Use potato masher to get the applesauce to the consistency you'd like it (it took us about 5 seconds, the apples fall right apart). Store in glass mason jars and keep in the fridge, or maybe even put some away in the freezer if you don't think you'll mow through it in two days like we did. It will keep for about 10 days in the fridge.

Just wanted to check in & share... I made my applesauce last weekend! :) It turned out A-mazing, if I do say so myself. I didn't use your recipe though, :( , since I had 20 pounds (& I'm dealing with zero energy) I didn't want to hassle with peeling & chopping so I used the recipe from Passionate Homemaking (her's posted two days after yours, so funny) but didn't add any sweetener or spices. Plain Jane's my name these days. Anyway, the gingergold apples were so fantastic I had to save a few from being pureed & cooked & hid them in my fridge for a special treat now & then. Hehe. The 20 pounds ended up making about 8 1/2 quarts of applesauce so my pantry is nice & stocked with that plus 9 quarts of peaches & 8 quarts of pears. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, but thank you Lord for my mama, there's no way I could have done it without her!!

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